The Georgia Botanical Garden

Yesterday we rode over to the gardens, which lie just by the middle fork of the Oconee River. Owned by the state of Georgia, it operates under the guidance of the University of Georgia, one of three claimants to the title of oldest public college in America. It is a large facility, looped by a five mile trail that runs along the river for some distance. There are numerous facilities and classes, including in related fields like beekeeping. Many types of plants and, indeed, many types of gardens are featured. I'm going to show you a few of the earlier types.

The Herb Garden

Medieval gardens were enclosed and patterned, devoted to herbs and other useful plants. The forest were frightening and wild: even before the regulation of forests, they were tied to human communities by the swine who sheltered in them, by the hunter, and by outlaws. The garden a place of order, where the goods of nature were perfected by human reason.

The Physic Garden

The herbs grown by the Medievals often had medicinal value. In London in 1673, the Worshipful Society of Apothicaries founded a "physic garden" to provide adequate supplies of rare herbs and plants to study in the quest to improve human health. The University of Georgia maintains this one in a knotwork pattern.

Courtyard

There is a small amount of formal statuary at the garden, including this fountain. Several archways, most draped with wisteria, provide shade in the summer.

Amphitheater

The Amphitheater is a newer addition -- you can see that the apple trees are still little more than twigs, perhaps two or three years old. In a few years they will provide food and shade for people who come to witness outdoor plays, in a way that ties this garden to the ancient Athens for which the University's home takes its name.

It has been a long year. It took us a good 6 weeks of working nights and weekends to move ourselves. We have a lot of stuff, mostly books :p

Neither of us took any time off of work, which (looking back) was a mistake.

The next time we move, I am going to spend the money on movers. But I was trying to be careful with money. This house was a big step up for us financially and I figured it was best to keep expenses down until we figured out how it would all work out.

In 2006 when we moved back to Georgia from Virginia, I made the move in one rental truck, a good two-thirds of which was full of plants from my wife's garden (as opposed to stuff from inside the house).

When we moved in 2009 we needed two such trucks, plus about a dozen runs back and forth with our own trucks -- and I'd been in Iraq most of the intervening time. Where'd we get all this stuff?

It's amazing to think that just twelve years ago we gave away or sold everything we owned and moved to China, with no more than we had on our backs.

I know I will regret saying this (Because I know that during the *elbow grease* part of the move I'm gonna be wondering, "WTF was I thinkin'!?"), but I'm ready to 'give it a go' one more time.For the last time.50 days and counting....0>;~}

It is beautiful. And they have this really cool phenomenon called seasons there. With the exception of this current locale, the Dark side casa has been located in distinctly over-sunny and arid locales for almost a decade. I'm more than ready for a little personal *climate change*. I guess it's more akin to that old saying about yeah, she's beautiful but somebody somewhere is tired of her crap. Hearing your local radio station brag about how it's sunny 360 days a year is only cool for a coupla years. Then it gets old very quickly. I'm looking forward to mountains, lakes and a place where 'humidity' is measured in inches not percentages.0>:~}

I love those! There's one for living in the desert, too, as well as for the PacNW with all the rain it gets and one for the south with the humidity, bugs and snakes. Thankfully, technology has improved to the point where tools that were not readily available to Joe Sixpack back then are pretty common place now. 0>;~}